


We've stumbled on a view tailor-made for two

by Pokkiwrites



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Fluff, Fluffy Ending, One Shot, in my universe he is not dead he is thriving, its not really all that much of an alternate universe, mention of naruto, mention of sai, small Asuma cameo, very minor kureasu mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-13
Updated: 2020-09-13
Packaged: 2021-03-07 03:07:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26440012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pokkiwrites/pseuds/Pokkiwrites
Summary: Right as she’s about to turn to leave though, Ino grabs her wrist. Ino’s touch sends a jolt of heat up Sakura’s arm, worming it’s way through her skin until it settles in her ribcage. “Wait!” Ino says, pulling her back. Sakura’s head has gone dizzy as she places her attention back on Ino. She points at the divet between her collarbones, fingernail poking against the necklace that Sakura forgot she was even wearing. “That’s so cute! Where did you get it?”Sakura’s own hand reaches up to clutch the rose quartz in her fingers. “Oh, uhm, I actually made it myself.”Ino’s eyes widen. “Wow, you did? I love it!” If Sakura’s face gets any warmer, it is going to melt off. “Do you make a lot of jewelry?”Sakura shrugs. “Sort of, it’s kind of a hobby.” She mostly only makes the jewelry for her friends, just last week she had made Naruto an angelite crystal necklace for soothing and protective energy.“Would you like to sell some here?” Ino asked excitedly. “I’ve been looking for a jewelry merchant to sell for!or the one where ino sells flowers and wants sakura to sell her handmade jewelry in her shop
Relationships: Haruno Sakura/Yamanaka Ino
Comments: 9
Kudos: 72





	We've stumbled on a view tailor-made for two

**Author's Note:**

> couldn't find any inosaku fics so i took matters into my own hands  
> title from "a lovely night" from the la la land soundtrack because i am a sap.

When Sakura wanders into the flower shop on the corner of the street, she isn’t really expecting much to come of it. Honestly, she hadn’t even planned on buying flowers, she just had always wanted to come in and admire the shop since the day she noticed it had opened. The outside of the store is littered with bouquets wrapped up prettily in paper and lace ribbons, propped up on the side of the stoop and on small wooden carts and stands. Each bundle fresh and green with little handwritten price tags snuggly tied around them. To the left are rustic looking buckets filled with tightly budded tulips, close to blooming but not quite there yet, with small chalkboard signs sticking out from the flowers that say  _ “Tulips ¥100 each, ¥1000 for a bundle. _ ” Fairy lights twinkle in the lavender and white striped awning above, giving the entire store an almost magical feel, as though Sakura had strayed far from the city and had stumbled right into a fae’s home on accident. The sign on the edge of the window that reads  _ “OPEN” _ is hand painted, which gives the already cute shop an extra homely feel.

Sakura pulls the glass door open and is greeted by a gentle chime from the bell above the entrance. The shop is even more gorgeous on the inside, with flowers of every kind filling up each counter top worth of space. There are even dried bunches hanging from the ceiling and white brick walls. More handmade signs decorate the settings, labeling every array of flowers in each walkway. In between the flowers are beautiful clay sculptures, ranging from busts to figurines, and each one completely stunning. The art pieces are for sale too, Sakura notices, and she absently wonders if the artist is the same as the owner. She bends down in front of one of the pieces to inspect the name written on the pricetag, but all it says is  _ ‘Sai’ _ with no surname. Sakura hums and moves on to look through the rest of the store.

The place is not very busy, but it isn’t empty either. There’s an elderly couple near the roses, the man pulling out a long stemmed red rose and holding up to his wife’s nose to smell, and a young man with a beard and sash wrapped around his middle deciding between a posy of peonies or tulips. There is no one behind the counter, Sakura realizes, and other than the three other customers and herself, there’s no one else to be found. Whoever owns the shop seems to have a great deal of faith with their clientele, she thinks to herself, remembering all the flowers for sale in front of the store's entrance. There weren’t any precautionary means to stop someone from simply grabbing a bucketful of flowers and running off without paying, and without any employee inside the shop, who could say the same wouldn’t happen to any of the floral arrangements or art pieces inside? Though, Sakura isn’t very convinced that either the old couple or the man will suddenly rob the place.

She continues wandering throughout the aisles, stopping to either admire the art or to smell some of the flowers. She lightly brushes her fingertips against the petals of a rather elegant looking bouquet of lilies, when the man with the sash walks past her and heads up to checkout, still clutching both the peonies and the tulips in hand. Sakura watches as he gently rings the bell at the counter and sets down both sprays. There’s a slight bustle from the backroom before the curtains are pushed aside as the most alluring woman Sakura has ever seen steps out from behind them. Sakura’s hand freezes in place as she stares at the woman walking towards the cash register. Her face breaks into a dazzling smile at the customer and she leans over the counter to pull him into a warm embrace. 

“Asuma!” She exclaims. The man gives a deep chuckle and hugs her back, leaving Sakura to wonder about the nature of their relationship. Unless she just treats all of her customers in such a kind manner, in which case, Sakura needs to pick out something to purchase fast in order to ensure she gets the same treatment. Sakura snatches up the lilies in her hand, hoping that she doesn’t accidentally crush them in her grip, as the two pull away. 

“Always good to see you, Ino,” Asuma says, scooping up the two flower bunches in his hands once more. He must have put them down because he knew how she would react. Sakura is surprised by how envious she is of two strangers' relationship. “Your flowers are as beautiful as ever,” He tells her. “My only problem is that they are too beautiful. I don’t know which one to get.” He laughs.

Ino chews on her lip, looking over at both of the flowers he has chosen. “Well,” She starts, picking at the tulips with her fingers. “Tulips are for a deep love, and these are red which express a very passionate and intimate relationship.” She turns her attention to the peonies. “The peonies are also a symbol of love, but they are associated with weddings and marriage, and  _ pink  _ peonies represent love at first sight.” Sakura can see that the tips of Asuma’s ears have gone pink at the mention of marriage, and Ino’s sly smirk tells Sakura that she has noticed it as well. He must not be ready for such a commitment yet. She says nothing of it, however, sparing him the embarrassment. Instead, she pulls the peonies out of his hands and sets it on the stool beside her. “Kurenai loves red anyway, sensei,” She tells him. He sputters at that, ears going bright red. She giggles in return, a soft airy sound that sends ripples of nerves straight through Sakura’s chest. She tucks a long lock of silvery blonde hair behind her ear, exposing her bright blue eyes while she rings him up. At the sight of them, Sakura crushes the stems of the lilies in her hand, the wrapping paper crinkling and digging into the spaces between her fingers. 

Asuma fishes out his wallet and hands her a couple of crisply folded bills. “Sometimes,” He tells her as she takes the money from his hands. “I think you’re a little too keen for your own good.”

She laughs again, trading the tulips with him. “Oh, I can’t take all the credit,” She admits while he’s walking away. “You know Shikamaru and Choji and I put the pieces together amongst ourselves.” Asuma pauses, shoulders hunching up in embarrassment. He mutters something under his breath about “never letting him win another game of shogi again in his life” before waving absently at Ino and leaving the store. 

The bell chimes as the door closes behind him and Ino starts heading back to the other room again. Her breath catching in her throat, Sakura throws herself over to the counter. “E-excuse me!” She pipes, making Ino turn her attention to her over her shoulder. As their eyes connect, Sakura straightens up and hopes with all her might that her face is not as pink as it is warm. Too shy to say anything else, Sakura just thrusts the lilies forwards, hands shaking as she presents them to Ino. The other woman flinches back a little at the forcefulness of the motion, staring down at the flowers underneath her nose with big, startled doe-like eyes. Sakura mentally smacks herself upside the head for scaring her and tries to reign it back. She swallows against the lump in her throat and forces herself to speak. “I uh, I’m sorry,” She apologizes. “I’d just like to purchase these please.” 

That same earth shatteringly beautiful grin spreads over Ino’s face again as she gingerly takes the flowers from her hand. Sakura feels like she has to practically break her fingers in order to peel them from her vice like grip around them. Ino smoothes out the parchment and nods. “Of course!” She steps back to the cash register, her face only a mere couple of inches from Sakura’s. She watches her as she flips the price tag with long, carefully filed nails and reads the price. “¥5300,” She murmurs to herself, tapping it into the register. She looks up, boring her eyes straight into Sakura’s with a kind smile. Sakura swears she feels her heart stop. There’s a pregnant pause as they stare at each other with neither of them speaking, before Ino awkwardly clears her throat and draws Sakura’s attention to her extended hand. There’s a bizarre split moment where Sakura wonders if she’s asking to hold hands, before it strikes her that she’s waiting for the money. 

“Oh!” Sakura blurts, feeling the blush deepen in her cheeks. There’s no way that Ino doesn’t notice it by now, but she thankfully doesn’t mention it. Sakura quickly digs out her wallet from her bag, apologizing so much that she’s tripping over her own words, but she can’t seem to get herself to stop. She fumbles the money out and drops it on the counter, desperately wishing that a sinkhole would open right under her feet and drop her in so she could escape this embarrassing moment before it gets any worse. 

Ino doesn’t miss a beat, just grabs the money off of the countertop and places it into the register. She grabs a roll of ribbon from one of the cupboards and begins to tie it around the lilies. With a soft  _ snip  _ of her scissors, she finishes up and inspects her handiwork. There’s a small crescent shaped wrinkle that forms between her eyebrows as she does so, focusing intently to ensure that her work is perfect. Sakura feels like she hasn’t breathed once during this entire moment, too focused on absorbing every tiny detail in Ino’s face to think about herself for even one fleeting moment. When Ino feels satisfied with her work, she gives a soft “Ah!” and hands her the flowers. “There we go,” she says, and Sakura accepts them without thinking. Sakura realizes that this means the transaction is over and she’ll have to leave now. She drops her eyes shyly, whispering her thank you as she starts thinking about the soonest she can come back without looking strange. Perhaps after her flowers have died, but she isn’t sure how long lilies are meant to live for. She’ll have to look it up once she gets home. 

Right as she’s about to turn to leave though, Ino grabs her wrist. Ino’s touch sends a jolt of heat up Sakura’s arm, worming it’s way through her skin until it settles in her ribcage. “Wait!” Ino says, pulling her back. Sakura’s head has gone dizzy as she places her attention back on Ino. She points at the divet between her collarbones, fingernail poking against the necklace that Sakura forgot she was even wearing. “That’s so cute! Where did you get it?” 

Sakura’s own hand reaches up to clutch the rose quartz in her fingers. “Oh, uhm, I actually made it myself.”

Ino’s eyes widen. “Wow, you did? I love it!” If Sakura’s face gets any warmer, it is going to melt off. “Do you make a lot of jewelry?”

Sakura shrugs. “Sort of, it’s kind of a hobby.” She mostly only makes the jewelry for her friends, just last week she had made Naruto an angelite crystal necklace for soothing and protective energy. 

“Would you like to sell some here?” Ino asked excitedly. “I’ve been looking for a jewelry merchant to sell for! I asked Sai, but he prefers painting and sculpting over jewelry making I guess. My other friends don’t usually partake in anything artsy, so I’ve been struggling to find someone! I was about to give up looking, but then you walked straight into my shop!” Sakura struggles to keep up as she rambles. “It must be destiny!” She finishes, clapping her hands together in front of her heart. Sakura’s own heart flutters in her chest at the idea of being Ino’s destiny, but she isn’t very talented and doesn’t make a lot of jewelry, certainly not enough to continue to keep stock. She’s about to deny the request, when Ino interrupts her thoughts by pulling her hand forward and uncapping a pen. She starts writing numbers on the pale skin of Sakura’s wrist, chatting away as she does so. “This is my number, text or call me whenever. We can meet up for coffee or for dinner to discuss everything. I won’t order too many at a time unless you think you can make a lot, I don’t plan on having a shop’s worth of jewelry anyway, only a few pieces right here next to the register. And obviously, you’ll get half pay of whatever item sells. We can come to an agreement about the pricing of specific items later, I don’t mind. I let Sai choose each price for his art, too, and his stuff sells so fast. We actually ran out of all of his paintings today, I’ll have to speak to him to get some more, I’m sure your jewelry will sell out just as fast.” She snaps the cap back on her pen. “Wait, I don’t think I got your name.” 

“S-Sakura.” She answers, making Ino smile. “Great! Thank you for coming in!” She says as the elderly couple makes their way to the line. “Text me anytime!”

Sakura leaves the shop with a weird sort of aching in both her head and her chest, but pulls out her phone anyway. She taps Ino’s number into her contacts and sends her a text. She normally wouldn’t send a text right away, but figures she already embarrassed herself enough for one day to care about the arbitrary rules of texting etiquette.

-

Ino ends up inviting Sakura over to her apartment for brunch to discuss selling Sakura’s jewelry. She’s nervous as all hell as she knocks on the door and can’t stop tucking and untucking her hair behind her ears. Fussing with her hair has always been a nervous tick of hers. She’s honestly debating turning on her heels and running straight back to her house, claiming a stomach ache or something to excuse her flaking, but before she gets the chance to, Ino swings the door wide open. “Sakura!” She cheers, tossing her arms around her shoulders and pulling her into a tight hug. It almost makes Sakura’s legs turn to jelly, but she wills her arms up to hug her back. Honestly right now, clutching Ino is probably the only thing keeping upright anyway.

Ino pulls away, but links their arms together and pulls Sakura into her sunlit kitchen. It’s easy to see that the flower shop is all Ino’s, as her house is covered in just as many flowers and double the amount of plants. She is clearly not a minimalist, either, as there are lots of decorations covering the walls and countertops all over her apartment. The paintings hanging on the walls are in the same style as the hand painted signs in her store, so Sakura figures they must be her own art. When Ino sits her down at the kitchen table and hurries off to the pantry, Sakura admires one of the paintings. It’s beautiful, a lone house in a lush green field with towering trees and a cloudy sky. “That’s amazing,” Sakura tells her. “Did you paint that yourself?” Ino hums in confusion, poking her head out from the cupboards to give her a quizzical look before following her line of sight to the landscape. 

She snorts. “Oh, that? No way, I could never. I mean, even if I  _ was  _ talented enough to paint something like that, I could never have the patience that it takes to create it. Sai painted that for me, I think it took him like a week to make. It was a gift!” Sakura feels her heart sink at the mention of Sai again. He took a long time on such a gorgeous piece of artwork for her as a present, and she sells his art in her shop. They must be dating, if not more. The thought sombers Sakura and she does her best to dull the disappointment she feels. 

Ino comes bounding over with various pastry boxes in her hands, placing them down on the wood in front of Sakura. She brushes her hands against her skirt, a deep purple floor length thing that sits on Ino’s hips snuggly. Bitterly, Sakura sneaks her eyes down to Ino’s left hand; no ring. 

“Would you like some coffee? Or tea or water, or hell, even a mimosa if you’d like. It’s brunch after all!” She asks cheerfully, unaware of Sakura’s current mood change. 

“Just a water will be fine,” She hopes her voice doesn’t sound as glum as she feels. “Thank you.”

“No problem!” Ino reaches into her cabinets to grab two glasses, setting them each down on the table, and then turns to grab the pitcher of water by the fridge. The ice cubes clink softly against the glass while the sliced lemons, cucumbers, and mint leaves swirl around in the water. 

“So,” Sakura starts awkwardly as Ino begins pouring her a glass, wanting to just rip the bandaid off now rather than wait for later. “How long have you and Sai been together?”

Ino stops pouring for a second, a flash of confusion settling over her face. “Together? Uh, I guess it’s about to be- wow! Fourteen years!” She says. “We met when we were both 14. Damn,” She says under her breath. She throws her head back as she bursts into good natured laughter. “We must be getting old!”

So childhood friends then. They must have a very close relationship in order to stay together for over a decade. “That’s a long time,” She says. “You must have such a great relationship.” She tells her. 

Ino shrugs, topping off her own glass and plucking a cucumber out of the water. “Umm,” She says, taking a bite from the vegetable. “I guess so. He can really get on my nerves though, you know? I feel like we bicker more than anything else, but I love him and I know he loves me. So no matter how annoying he gets, I know he’ll always be there for me, and me for him.” 

Sakura nods, feeling genuinely happy for the two, even if she’s still sad that she’ll never have the chance to be with Ino herself. At least she is with someone who makes her happy, and Sakura could always use more friends. Besides, this was only a crush, she’s had plenty of those. She’ll get over it just as quick as the rest of them. 

Taking a big breath, she carefully pulls a handful of jewelry from her purse. “I brought some samples, like you asked. I wasn’t sure what type of jewelry you were looking to sell, and I’ve never sold any of mine before, so I just brought as many as I could fit in my bag.”

Ino takes a seat across from her and reaches over to take them from her hands. “Wow,” she breathes, turning over an amethyst necklace in her hand. She runs her finger down the silver wiring that’s holding the stone tightly in place. “This is so beautiful!” She tells her, looking over to admire a pair of matching earrings. “Oh, I wanna buy these off you right now!” Ino jokes. “You have such gorgeous craftsmanship, I can’t believe that you made them.”

Sakura’s chest winds up in that way again and she has to pinch her thigh between her fingernails to make the butterflies go away. “Thank you. I never would have thought about selling them if I hadn’t come into your shop, I usually only make them for myself or my friends.”

“Well, I think they’re all stunning. It’s a crime that you haven’t become rich off of these. We’ll make a millionaire of you yet, Sakura-chan, just you wait. Your jewelry will be the star of the shop! Sai will totally regret not selling jewelry first.” She jokes, giving Sakura a sly wink that she, in turn, pretends does  _ not _ send a wave of affection crashing right over her. She pinches herself harder, looking back over to the painting to remind herself not to get too attached. 

“Speaking of Sai,” She begins, forcing herself to remember that Ino is not available. Ino’s head perks up at the name and she gives an adoring smile at the mention of him. “If I may ask, why aren’t you guys engaged yet?” Ino suddenly frowns, pulling back at the question. Sakura immediately panics, not wanting to have offended her. She rushes to fix her mistake, kicking herself for shoving her foot in her mouth like usual. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, it’s just that you two seem to be so happy with each other and have been together for so long. I just assumed that you wouldn’t have wanted to get married for some reason, nothing else! I am so sorry, I really didn’t mean to offend-” She’s cut off by Ino’s roaring laughter, the other woman nearly falling back in her chair at how hard she is laughing. She covers her mouth with her hand, holding the other one up in a way that tells Sakura to wait a moment while she collects herself.

“Oh my gosh,” She says once she’s composed. She wipes her thumb under her left eye, swiping at the other with her pointer finger right after, then pats Sakura’s hand. “You are so  _ cute!”  _ Ino tells her, which instantly brings a flush to her cheeks. “Sai is my  _ brother.  _ My father adopted him when we were both fourteen. And I don’t mean to laugh,” She tells her earnestly, smiling so sweetly at her that Sakura swears she can feel cupid’s arrow pierce through her chest right then and there. “It’s just that Sai is nearly as gay as I am!”

Oh.

_ Oh. _

There it is. Ino is single and she likes  _ girls.  _ Something so ferocious overcomes Sakura in such a way that she can’t even stop herself, blurting out “Do you want to go on a date with me?” before she can lose this chance.

Ino blinks and Sakura has caught her off guard for the  _ third  _ time in under an hour. She tilts her head to the side. “I thought we were on a date right now?” She admits. 

Adoration bubbles up inside of Sakura and swells up in her chest so much that it pushes her heart to her throat. And that bastard Cupid must have pushed her forward or something, because before she knows it, she’s leaning across the table and pressing her lips against Ino’s, squeezing her eyes shut so tightly that she can’t tell if she’s actually seeing stars or if it’s just the effect that Ino has on the people she kisses. She snakes her hand up behind Sakura’s head, scratching her long nails against her scalp as she tangles her fingers in her hair, kissing back in such a way that makes Sakura never want to pull away. But they have to break apart soon, since Sakura hasn’t taken a breath since she thought that her and Sai were a couple (and dammit if she doesn’t feel like a fool for that) but it doesn’t even matter because  _ Ino likes her  _ and  _ Ino asked her on a date  _ and Ino is  _ kissing her right now. _

She keens quietly into the kiss, but pulls away after five blissful more seconds in order to catch her breath, and the two are just sitting there, breathing hard and blushing and staring right at each other. There’s no noise in Sakura’s ears except for their harsh panting, and she can’t see anything other than the way that Ino’s lips are glistening so angelically as the light bounces off of them. “So,” She huffs, breaking the silence. “If I say that I’d need another meeting before deciding to sell my jewelry in your shop, does that mean we can go on a second date?” 

Ino laughs that perfect airy laugh again and Sakura swears she’s going to do everything she can in order to hear it everyday at every hour for the rest of her life. “Yeah, I will take as many meetings as it takes you to decide.” She promises, her smile going devilish as she pulls her back against her lips. 

As their lips meet again, Sakura thinks that it is going to take her a long time before deciding anything. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> this isn't as good as my frog yam fic but its something ok.
> 
> anyway, this took me four hours and i decided to write it after i discovered i got an insane amount of dopamine rushes from every kudos, hit, bookmark, and comment on my other fic. not to be greedy, but it really would mean a lot if u took the time to write a nice comment after reading, i would appreciate it so much.
> 
> thank u for reading tho ily
> 
> here's to hoping i can make more inosaku fics and fill the tag with actual content instead of just background relationships in m/m centered fics !!!


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